Jacob Lowings: Early Career Promoter Fund
Concise Description: Monthly grassroots live music nights at The Railway Hotel, Southend, showcasing local and emerging artists in a consistent upstairs programme.
Bio: Tonight Presents is an independent live events platform based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Formed by guitarist Levent Basharan, pianist Taylor Higgs and owner/manager Jacob Lowings. Created to bring more adventurous grassroots music into local spaces.
The project is built around artists who deserve to be seen and heard but are often missed by traditional local programming: emerging bands, solo performers, cultural musicians and players of unique instruments from different musical traditions. Its aim is to give audiences something fresh, memorable and genuinely different, while creating paid opportunities for artists who may not otherwise have a platform in the area.
This funding will support a series of live events across Southend, Leigh-on-Sea and the wider Essex area. The programme will bring together grassroots talent, cultural music, unusual instrumentation and one-off collaborations, turning familiar venues into spaces for discovery, connection and high-quality live performance.
The support will help cover artist fees, marketing, design, print, digital promotion, production and audience development. It will allow the project to take more creative risks, reach new audiences and build a stronger, more varied live music offer locally. At its heart, this activity is about keeping live music exciting, accessible and alive: giving artists a proper stage, giving audiences something they would not usually find on their doorstep, and helping grow a more open, ambitious grassroots music scene in Essex.